Story

In the world of Monster Hunter there is virtually no story to the game, other than you are a hunter who has come from his or her own village in response to aid another village’s growing monster problem. On the way to the village your character is attacked while on a snowy mountain side, the monster resembles that of a Tyrannosaurus Rex’s head with the body of a small dragon who’s hands are attached to it’s wings. While your character tries to defend his or herself they are soon knocked off the mountain, only to wake up later conscious in the village that they were traveling to, lying upon a bed with one of the locals watching over the body. It is after this cut scene that the player then becomes free to choose their own life and how to wish to tackle the monsters from then on.

Review

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite the sequel to the widely popular Monster Hunter Freedom 2 known to territories outside of Japan gives players the ability to customize their own adventure. With the choice of having eleven weapons at the beginning of which: A sword and shield, great sword, lance, long sword, gun lance (which is essentially a gun compartment attached to a lance), dual swords, a hammer, a hunting horn, Light bowgun, heavy bowgun, and a bow can all be chosen at the beginning. Though none of these weapons are powerful enough yet to take down the monster that had attacked your hunter upon that snowy mountain.

Aside from the weapons that are presented to your hunter at the beginning of the game, your hunter is also given a starting armor set. The likes of which presents your character with ample protection such as: Divine Protection (which essentially reduces the damage a monster’s attack will do to your hunter, though it runs on percentage so it is best not to rely on this ability to much at least not at the beginning.). The armor also provides Psychic Vision (which allows the hunter to know where the big ‘boss’ monsters are located.), and last it also provides resistance to the cold climate seeing as your first few missions will be on the mountain this skill is quite helpful. Though this armor is great for the first few quests of the game it’s protection will soon wear out as your hunter steadily progresses and is soon faced with even tougher bosses.

Once the weapon has been chosen and the armor has been adorned it is then time for your Monster to take his or her first few steps outside of the village after receiving a quest from the village elder, who is an old woman who stands next to some logs that have been set on fire. In the beginning the player is only allowed to choose from one star quests of which there are five available which consists of: Mountain Herb Picking, Delivering Antlers, Slaying five Giaprey (which are essentially Velociraptors with white~ish skin.), Delivering a popo (or mammoth’s) tongue, and slaying five blangos (which is basically a cross between an monkey’s face and somewhat of it’s body.). Though it is not much to start from it does help the player in becoming accustomed to some of the village elder’s quest though not as difficult as the later ones. If the player still does not feel accustomed to doing some of these quests yet and rather learn the weapons in a more embraced environment so to speak, then the hunter can head over toward the training hall (perched next to the side of the gathering hall building (which is a stone’s toss away from where the elder of the village is located). In the training hall one can train with each weapon and even get advice from the esteemed instructor of the training hall.

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is not a title that only delivers single player experience rather due to it’s ad-hoc feature, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite allows for three other PSPs to hook up with the player’s own making a total of four people on one quest. This is quite a nice feature to have for the game, but when the money becomes split to each person individually , and due to the nature of how one can fail a quest given that you are only allotted three times. It makes the game a bit harder in itself. This allotted three times does not only apply to multiplayer as it applies to single player just as well. Most of the quests that are given in the gathering hall are a little bit harder than their counterpart quests that the elder gives outside of the hall. Due to this enhanced difficulty, it provides the four hunters with a challenge more so than the village elder can provide for the four hunters.

For all that it is Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is a great game, one that I would highly advise picking up; but to some this title is nothing more than a eyesore as well as finger sore due to the way many have adapted to playing the game. A few of the problems many seem to have with the game is the rather unforgiving difficulty curve towards newcomers of the series. Monster Hunter is one of those games in which it asks the player to essentially learn the moves of the monster before being able to tackle it without problems. Many of the monsters are self-evident in their moveset, but quite a few others are unforgiving to those who may have just recently picked up the title. An example of this would be from one minute picking herbs only to later be thrown into a fight with the Akantor, though the difficulty may not rise AS much it sure feels like it to some.



Another grudge a few seem to have with the game is the amount of patience and perseverance the game asks the player to have. Not only is one’s patience tested almost every time they pick it up, but their perseverance just as well. Both seemingly go hand in hand though as the player takes their hunter out to tackle a monster. Many of the monster’s have an item you will more than likely need to make a piece of armor, or perhaps a whole set as well as a weapon that goes with it. Most of the time the player is not presented with all of the pieces after the first fight has been finished which makes the player have to go back and tackle the same monster. Not only does this become a pain in some newcomers rear, but they must continuously keep doing this for the other armor pieces. If you thought just getting one Heavenly Rathalos Scale was hard try committing yourself to getting the other four needed to complete the high-end set!



Though for all that it is Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is still a title I would strongly urge others to get, casting the learning curve aside and simply looking directly at the gameplay elements of the game. One would almost say that the way Monster Hunter plays is almost addicting and seems to always be drawing people back for more no matter if they just got their rear-end handed back to them by a monster that was at least twice their size. As addictive as the gameplay is, there are at least one or two glitches that may tear it down for a few people. One of which comes in the form of the hit detection, quite a few times your hunter may die because of a hit which is normal, but once you find out that the attack that hit you was one that was to far to be connected in theory; then we may have a problem. Yet despite this the gameplay is still quite high and can overcome any negatives that may be imposed.

Graphics 8.8

The graphics, oh the graphics of this game are quite astounding for a Playstation Portable handheld system. From the lush jungles to the great forest, the graphics are indeed striking especially when mixed with the monsters your hunter will indeed come face to face to one day. The graphics and essentially awe-inspiring designs of the monsters that your hunter must tackle make for a rather jaw-dropping game that is available for the Playstation Portable.

Sound 8.5

As most gamers know sound is a big player is quite a few games, without sound the games may not be as impressive as they look and feel. With Monster Hunter aside from the traditional fanfare that is presented at the opening of the game via the title screen, you will not hear much aside from the regular sounds you would hear while traversing through the locales. From the Great Forest, you will hear the sounds of the animals screeches mixed with other locale variety, just as in the swamp if it is raining you will hear the sound of the rain as the water crashes against the ground. The moment the ‘boss’ monster spots you all of these sounds slowly become slightly washed away as music begins to play. Sometimes the music that players for when a monster has spotted you is different, though much of the time the music is the same; yet still enjoyable each time it is listened to. Though after a while it will slowly become drowned out as your hunter soon begins to struggle with life as she or he becomes face to face with the monster.

Online 8.7, Gameplay 9.5 Fun factor 9.7

In this new age of gaming most gamers have become accustomed to the likes of online gaming, Monster Hunter may not provide such, but with ample work arounds such as: Ad-hoc party and X link-Kai. Monster Hunter Freedom United can easily be taken online and others from around the globe can be played with, even if they are from Japan playing Monster Hunter Portable 2G (which is essentially the same game). Though if you are an unlucky person who does not have either peripheral to be able to jump online to play with others from around the world, but have friends who play fear not as the locale ad-hoc mode works just as well. In fact it in my honest opinion makes the game far more fun than sitting at the house. Think of the possibilities one could have while sitting in a pizza hut eating a few slices while your sword tears into the body of the tigrex, perhaps extracting revenge back upon the monster that knocked you off that snowy mountain so long ago.

Overall score 9.0

For all that it’s worth Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is an excellent title provided by Capcom, though with the absence of a true online infrastructure it has left many gamers with a sour taste, yet with many work arounds to get people online their doesn’t seem to be much of a need anymore; and aside from the heavy difficulty curve as well as the patience the title asks from you; Monster Hunter is definitely one of those titles that could be played for months to come.